'■^■^i GARDEN FOES. 



to the surface exc'reiuent eoiisisting of desicated vege- 

 table matter and soil. The excrement is popularly known 

 as "worm-casts," and, being composed largely of vege- 

 table matter, they are rich in plant food. Professor Dar- 

 win, in his most interesting work, " Vegetable Mould and 

 Earthworms," says, as a result of his experiments and 

 researches on the subject, that each large worm ejects 

 about 20oz. of excrement, or castings, per annum. He 

 further states that each acre of pasture land contains on 

 an average about 26,886 worms, the castings from which 

 amount to 15 tons annually. In ten years, at this rate 

 of deposit, a layer of an inch of mould would be added to 

 the original surface. Worms are more niunerous in garden 

 soils than in pastures. Darwin records a statement made 

 by another scientist, that there are 53,767 worms to the 

 acre. 



The Dew or Earth Worm (Lumbricus terrestris) has a 

 body consisting of 100 to 200 cylindrical rings, or seg- 

 ments, each furnished with minute bristles. It is desti- 

 tute of eyes, breathes through its skin, has no jaws or 

 teeth, but powerful muscles in its mouth, by means of 

 which it triturates its food. Worms are sensitive to light, 

 and hence come to the surface mainly at night. They 

 gradually draw in fallen leaves or decayed vegetable 

 matter into their burrows, then coat them with a special 

 fluid, and afterwards gradually devour them, together with 

 particles of soil, sand, etc. If an undetached leaf have 

 its point fixed in the soil, and the worm come in contact 

 with it, it will begin to suck off all the soft parts, leaving 

 the veins or ribs intact. Darwin says worms are canni- 

 bals, and will eat any of their comrades that have been 

 severed. The earthworm is a hermaphrodite, and is re- 

 produced from an egg. When first hatched the baby 

 worm is an inch long, and when full grown attains a 

 length of upwardrs of a foot. In colour it is rosy, white, 

 or bluish, according to the soil or position it is in. The 

 head is pointed and the tail flatfish. TIk^ hu'ge rings con- 

 tain the organs of generation. 



